Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-05-20


TIE LIGHTNING HAD FALLEN on HER SOUL.
rock. and it was as the pillar was. And it
had fallen so soon! there had been such a little
span of happiness and hope And so she sat,
like a stony sphinx and Bessie wept softly he
| fore her like a beautiful, breathing loving
| human suppliant, and the two formed a pic
| ture and contrast such as the student of
human nature does not often get the chance
of seeing.
1t was the elder sister who spoke first after
all
"Well, dear" She said, "what are you cry
ing about? You love Capt Mel and you be-
| lieve that he loves you. Surely this is nothing
| to cry about
"Well, l don't know that it is said Bessie,
more cheerfully; "but l was thinking how
dreadful it would be if lost him.
~ don't think that you need be afraid, said
jess; "and now, dear, I really must go to bed,
| am so tired. Good night, my dear; God
bless YOU / think that you have made
very wise choice, Capt. Mel is a man whom
any woman might love and be proud of
loving"
In another mil ute she was in her room and
there her composure left her, for she was but
a loving woman after all. she flung herself
upon her bed, and, hiding her face in the pill
low, burst into a paroxysm of weeping-a
very different thing from Besse's gentle
| tears. Her grief absolutely convulsed her
| and she pushed the bed clothes against her
mouth to prevent the sound of it penetrating
the partition walls and reaching John Niel's
| ears, for his room was next to hers. Even in
the midst of her suffering the thought of the
irony of the thing forced itself into her mind
There, separated from her only 10y "A few
| inches of lath and plaster and some four
| five feet of space, was the man for whom she
| mOulned thus, and yet he was as ignorant of
| it as though he We're thousands of miles away
| Sometimes, at such acute crises in our lives,
| the limitations of our physical nature do
| strike us in this sort of way. 1t is strange to
be so near and yet so far, and it brings the
absolute and utter loneliness of every created
being home to mind in a manner that is
| fOrcibie and at times almost terrible. John
| Mel going composedly to sleep, his mind
| happy with the recollection of those two right
and left shots, and Jess lying on her bed, six
feet away, and sobbng out her stormy heart
over him, are after all but types of what is
| continually going on in this Iemarka-
! bic world How often do we understand one
nnOther's grief! and, when we do, by what
standard can we measure it? More especially
| is comprehension rare if we happen to be the
| ORIGINAL cause of the trouble DO we think
of the feelings of the beetles it is our painful
duty to crush into nothingness? Not at all
If we have any computations, they are
| Quickly absorbed in the pride of our capture.
| And more often still. as in the present case,
we set our foot upon the Door victim by pure
accident or venal carelessness
Suffering. mental suffering. is a preroratiye
NJ greatness and even boro thcrn lies an ex.
ouieita low ot its cora For everything has it's
romnonsntions Nerves such rs these can
| thrill with 81 biob bonniness that will sween
urfeIt ,,ve, tbo mass Of mon Thus he who is
stricken Win Grief ot the siobt Of fine worlds
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CuAureh Vi MS Iaoe' WIZ P"i'"Ae' ho"e'ei
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am a ''i4 ~ o'i Us
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uaWn was Struggling tnaou9h we s'oi,hy
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